10 most memorable Mets All-Star Game moments
The Mets don’t have a particularly notable history of big hits or meaningful plays in All-Star Games, but they’ve had their share of compelling moments in the Midsummer Classic, mostly built around pitching performances, which fits with what they’ve been as an organization all these years.
Here, then, is my list of the 10 most memorable moments/performances, which are dominated, not surprisingly, by Tom Seaver:
1) 2013: Matt Harvey Starts Game at Citi Field
Anyone who was there will never forget just how electric the atmosphere was as Harvey took the mound at his home ballpark that night, perhaps the best pitcher in the sport at that very moment, just 24 years old.
Harvey was up to the occasion, striking out Miguel Cabrera and Jose Bautista in the first inning to escape a mini-jam, allowing just a Mike Trout opposite-field double in two scoreless innings. Anyone who was there also never would have believed it would be Harvey’s only All-Star appearance.
2) 1984: Rookie Dwight Gooden Strikes Out The Side
This was in an era before social media, the internet, and interleague play, when nationally televised games were few and far between. So when Gooden arrived in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park for the All-Star Game as a 19-year-old rookie, he was leading the National League in strikeouts yet he was still largely an unknown to most of the baseball nation, not to mention American League hitters.
Then, he went out and lit up TV screens across the country, striking out the side after entering the game in the fifth inning, mowing down Larry Parrish, Chet Lemon, and Alvin Davis. Gooden pitched another scoreless inning in the sixth, allowing only a bloop double to Eddie Murray, and that quickly made a name for himself nationally.
3) 2015: Jacob deGrom Strikes Out The Side On 10 Pitches
At this point, deGrom was the reigning Rookie of the Year but still widely considered Harvey’s sidekick, with Harvey back from Tommy John surgery and seemingly rounding into ace form again. Then, deGrom went out and had an inning in the All-Star Game so dazzling, striking out the side -- Steven Vogt, Jason Kipnis, and Jose Iglesias -- on 10 pitches, that the buzz around him changed instantly.
“I knew he was good but I didn’t know he could do that,” I remember a scout telling me a couple of days later. “Dotting the corners at 98 with his fastball, it was eye-popping.” Just a preview of what was to come, as it turned out.
4) 1979: Lee Mazzilli Hits HR, Draws Game-Winning Walk
People who are old enough to have seen it remember the switch-hitting Mazzilli’s opposite-field home run as a left-handed hitter, down the left field line in the old Seattle Kingdome. It was the first home run ever by a Met in an All-Star Game and it tied the game 6-6 in the eighth inning for the NL, but perhaps not as many recall he drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth to drive in what turned out to be the winning run in a 7-6 victory.
For that matter until I looked it up, I sure didn’t remember that the walk came off Ron Guidry, the Yankees’ reigning AL Cy Young Winner. Quite a night for the local kid from Brooklyn in what turned out to be Mazzilli’s only All-Star appearance.
5) 1967: Rookie Tom Seaver Closes Out Longest All-Star Game
Seaver wasn’t in the plans to pitch until the game, held in Anaheim, Calif., went to the 15th inning and the National League was running out of pitchers. Then, Tony Perez hit a home run in the top of the 15th to put the NL ahead and the Mets’ young star came on to get the final three outs of the 2-1 win.
Seaver earned a relatively easy save, getting Tony Conigliaro to fly out, and then, after walking Carl Yastrzemski, getting Bill Freehan to fly out before finishing with a flourish, striking out Ken Berry to end the longest All-Star Game ever by innings -- a distinction that game now shares with the 2008 game.
6) 2019 and 2021: Pete Alonso Wins HR Derby
Let’s face it, for years now the Derby has generated more interest than the game itself, and in this case, it raised Alonso’s rookie profile. He was already the talk of New York, with 30 home runs at the All-Star break, and made no secret of how much he wanted to win the derby. So when he did it, out-homering Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the finals, Alonso was an instant star on the national stage.
In the game the next night, held in Cleveland, Alonso went 1-for-2, driving home two runs in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded single as the NL rallied but wound up losing 4-3.
Alonso won the Derby a second time in 2021 at Coors Field in Colorado, which made it back-to-back wins since the event wasn't held in 2020 due to the pandemic.
7) 1968: Seaver Strikes Out Mickey Mantle
Nobody knew yet what an immortal Seaver would become, but in hindsight, this was quite an historic moment, as the Mets’ future Hall-of-Famer struck out Mantle in his final All-Star at-bat.
By then, Mantle was a shell of his former self but he was picked for sentimental reasons, and named honorary captain of the AL team as he appeared in his 20th All-Star Game (MLB played two All-Star games from 1959-62). Pinch-hitting in the eighth inning in the Astrodome, Mantle was overpowered by Seaver on four pitches, going down swinging on a high fastball. For Seaver, it was one of five strikeouts as he pitched the seventh and eighth innings in a 1-0 win for the NL.
8) 1990: Darryl Strawberry Shows Off His Howitzer
Strawberry didn’t have many memorable moments during his eight All-Star Games, but in 1990 at Wrigley Field, he drew oohs and aahs for a spectacular throw he made from right field in the seventh inning.
With one out and Julio Franco on third base, Jose Canseco lofted a fly to medium-range right field. Strawberry caught the ball with momentum going toward the plate and threw a strike on the fly to Mike Scioscia to get Franco and end the inning. The throw kept the NL close at 2-0, but that turned out to be the final score as the AL won.
9) 2006: David Wright Goes Deep In His First Appearance
In the first of his nine All-Star Games, in Pittsburgh, Wright took lefty Kenny Rogers deep in the second inning -- his first at-bat. It was only the second All-Star home run by a Met, 27 years after Mazzilli hit his in Seattle, and no Met has hit one since.
It was Wright’s only extra-base hit as an All-Star, but he did hit .389 in his nine appearances, going 7-for-18.
10) 1970: Seaver Makes First All-Star Start
Coming off the Miracle Mets’ 1969 championship, manager Gil Hodges gave Seaver the start in Cincinnati’s brand-new Riverfront Stadium, and had him go three scoreless innings, as he racked up four strikeouts.
It was a different time, obviously, in the way pitchers were handled, but this tidbit still seems remarkable: Hodges used Seaver in relief the Sunday before the All-Star Game, bringing him into the ninth inning even after the Expos had broken a 3-3 tie and taken a 5-3 lead, and then allowed him to pitch those three innings two days later in a game the NL eventually won 5-4. Seaver went on to pitch in eight All-Star games (he made the team 12 times), posting a 4.85 ERA mostly because he allowed three runs in one inning in 1975.
